The present invention relates to safety match books and more particularly to a novel safety match book having a match striking surface positioned within a pouch section to enable insertion and subsequent ingnition of a match head only when a specific sequence of forces is applied to the pouch section.
It is well known in the art to form a match book of a flexible sheet of material, such as cardboard and the like, enclosing at least one row of match sticks tearably fastened to a binding strip at an end opposite the match head and having a match striking surface positioned on the exterior of the match book cover adjacent to the binding strip. Safety reasons have dictated that the match striking surface be positioned upon the exterior surface of the match book rear cover portion, thereby preventing accidental ignition of the remainder of the match heads when a torn-off match stick is rubbed upon the striking surface until it is ignited. There has been considerable consumer interest in a child-proof match enclosure, whereby an infant will be unable to cause the ignition of a match torn from the strip of matches enclosed within the match book. This continuing safety interest has resulted in various attempts to provide the child-proof match enclosure: U.S. Pat. No. 1,724,712, issued Aug. 13, 1929 to E. B. Hough, discloses strips of tearable match sticks within a match box having a pair of complementary separable cover members pivotable at one end thereof, whereby one half of the match box must be pivoted away from the other half to reveal a strip of matchsticks, allow one matchstick to be torn from the strip, and be ignited against an enclosed striking surface; U.S. Pat. No. 2,935,185, issued May 3, 1960, to T. Will, disclosing a striking surface normally positioned between several folds of a snap-up portion of the match book cover. Both the Hough and Will match enclosures allow a child to easily open the enclosure, tear a match from the exposable strip of matches and rub the head of the torn match against the easily striking surface.
It is desirable to provide a safety match book having a striking surface generally both inaccessible and unusable by an infant.